April Goals Update

Running goals

Since setting some running goals for the year I've increased my weekly distance by about 10 km more or less meeting my target distance for each week. I've also done better than I expected at improving my pace so far. I participated in the Cherry Festival 10k run where I had a new personal record time for a 10k (57:46 according to strava).

However, this last week I've started to feel sluggish and worn out every run. I've been running three times a week since I started adding distance. One of those runs for the last several weeks has been a 10k. Last weeks pace was the first time since I started that I did not make my pace goal I felt pretty miserable all week. I think it's time to run four times a week at shorter distances and not have a weekly 10k until it's a necessity to reach 40k per week goal. I'm only about half way through my goal of building up to that distance per week and I don't want to feel miserable the entire time. So far this week 4 runs 7k or less feels much more manageable.

Writing goals

Dearest readers I have failed you! I only contributed 3 blog posts to the cosmos last month. I guess I should try for at least five this month. Putting a sufficient amount of research and thought to make a well formed opinion is a lot more time consuming than its sounds. I did write a first draft for a little short story which is none too exciting and will probably never see the outside of my drive folder,. Better than nothing which is really my goal I suppose.

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Favorite Things: May 2018 Edition

New series of monthly (my intentions at least) things I'm really enjoying...
Ride ReportRide Report is an app which uses your phone's location data to automatically keep track of your bike rides. For each ride it asks you a simple survey "How was your ride." After collecting enough survey data from rides Ride Report can generate a map showing the worst and best rides for a city. Some cities are even using this data to make better transportation decisions.
I'm not sure if this app will work at a smaller scale for a city like The Dalles, but the idea is very cool. The more people the use it the more helpful it will be. At this point I've only ever said my rides were great and being the only user in town this is very unscientific. I highly recommend using this app for fun and better city planning or at least better informed fellow cyclists.

LibbyLibby is an app which allows you to borrow ebooks through your local library. For some reason it is much easier f…

A Special 2018 Kind of Father's Day Message

I've been seeing a fair bit in the news coverage lately about federal policy changes which have resulted in children being separated from their parents at the border of the United States. In the short amount of time that these policy changes have been in place the US has separated at least 2,000 children from their parents. This is leading to the erection of tent cities to house children because the re-purposed Walmarts we have been housing immigrant children in are near full capacity. This according to the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as anyone with common sense, is horrible for the mental and emotional health of children.

As a father and a US citizen I'm outraged by the trauma these children are experiencing at the hands of the federal government. And things have taken an even more irritating turn. Our Attorney General, who is quoted as saying the KKK "were OK until I learned they smoked pot," cited the Apostle Paul in defense of th…

How to not dread running.

It’s warming up and the sun has been shining (kind of). You could almost say it was running season. I have to admit however, at the when it first started warming up this year I was dreading starting to run. Memories of last year's misery haunted me and I was seriously contemplating giving the whole thing up. Ultimately I did give running one another shot.
So how are things going this year?Pretty darn well actually. Better than ever even! This year I’ve earned PRs for every distance Strava keeps track of, I haven’t suffered any injuries and I’m genuinely enjoying myself. This is much better than last year. Last year I had a short and fairly miserable season, plagued with injuries.

Last year I had a few goals tied up with running. I wanted to run longer and faster than I ever had. I had really detailed goals for each week of the summer, how far I should be running and at what pace. I tried to make sure I never broke the “10% rule” adding too much distance each week, but this still …

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